Parents will be all too familiar with the intense, sharp pain in feet caused by an unassuming Lego brick .

It has probably led to a fair few outbursts in homes all over the country as mums and dads yell: "How many times do I have to tell you to put your toys away?"

Even those of us who haven't yet ventured into parenthood can still remember that awful stabbing pain from our early years.

Now scientists have explained exactly WHY it hurts so much with a helpful video .

Lego is made out of ABS plastic - three types of material combined to give the bricks strength, resistance and shininess.

Why Does Stepping On a Lego Hurt So Bad? (Image: youtube)

But all those qualities we look for in our Lego combine to make a very strong toy that doesn't give way under pressure.

This means that when we accidentally step on on them, the force of our weight concentrates itself on the point of contact - which is usually a really sharp edge.

Even if we step on the whole of the top surface of the brick, it still hurts a whole lot.

Ouch (Image: youtube)

Why? The bottom of our foot can have over 200,000 sensory receptors and, because the Lego doesn't give way when we step on it, it instead forces the pressure of your weight back up into your foot, causing pain.

If you want a more scientific explanation, we advise you to watch the video - it breaks it down into bitesize chunks to make it easier to understand.

But basically, the moral of the story is try to keep your Lego bricks off the floor, because it REALLY hurts when you step on one of them.